Millennials Most Interested in Sustainable Investing

Millennials are almost universally interested (90%) in pursuing sustainable investments as part of their 401(k)s, according to a study by the Morgan Stanley Institute for Sustainable Investing.

The
firm says the survey results imply that offering sustainable investment
funds as 401(k) options may be an additional way for companies to
attract and retain Millennial talent in competitive job markets. The
survey also revealed more than half of Millennial investors believe that
companies with a focus on social or environmental performance are more
innovative and roughly half believed they attract higher-quality talent
(40% for environmental focus and 52% for social focus).

Additionally,
Millennial investors remain three times as likely as the general
investor population to have worked at or applied to a company because of
its stance on social or environmental issues (19% compared to 6%).

These
findings are in line with the general survey findings that
three-quarters of investors overall, and 86% of Millennials are
interested in sustainable investing. Investors report an uptick in
sustainability-minded investment decisions since 2015 (38%, up from
32%).

Substantial majorities of Millennial investors believe that
their own investment decisions can influence climate change (75%) and
alleviate poverty (84%).

However, a majority of investors (53%)
still believe that investing sustainably requires a financial trade-off.
Millennials believe the trade-off myth to a greater degree than the
general pool (59%). More than half believe that an investor’s sole
responsibility should be maximizing profit (54% vs. 47% in 2015). But data and research have shown that sustainable investing does not negatively affect, and can even boost, returns for investors.

The survey also found while women still lead men in their interest in
sustainable investing, the gap in action is narrowing. In 2017, women
and men have a statistically equal likelihood of having integrated
sustainability into their investment decisions (40% and 36%
respectively).